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Sun 13 Jun 2021 08:50

Any - Time to sell privately - Modernmajorgeneral

Long time lurker, new poster!

We have recently bought a new “fun” car, as our work horse civic is no longer needed in the way it was, as a reliable, decent load carrier. Having read about the desirability of these on the used market and the supposed strength of the market at the moment, we advertised it last week……to no interest so far. Just ALOT of spam.

Are we being impatient? Or have we priced/advertised it incorrectly? It is a 1.8 ES 2012 with nearly 90000 miles on the clock, but it ahead on its servicing and has been maintained carefully fir the 6 years we have had it (extra oil changes/premium fuel etc). It is advertised bang on the autotrader estimate of £4250, trade examples are a good £1000 or more. Thinking we would be happy to see it go around the £3.8-4K mark. The car buying group are offering £3090, if that is helpful. It is on autotrader, gumtree and Facebook (shudder)

I would be very interested to know how other people have found selling privately at the moment, and average time it took to sell? It is such a good car, it deserves a good home. Perhaps it should just get flogged to the car buying group and take the hit….

Cheers
MMG

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 09:26

Any - Time to sell privately - FiestaOwner

Try We Buy Any Car. You won't get top price, but it's hassle free. You also won't be wasting time with tyre kickers.

www.webuyanycar.com/

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 10:09

Any - Time to sell privately - Bolt

Try We Buy Any Car. You won't get top price, but it's hassle free. You also won't be wasting time with tyre kickers.

www.webuyanycar.com/

I will second that as used them a couple of times and found them ok, cash in the bank for next car same day if you want though its extra, but no tyre kicking only checking engine starts no lights on dash and good body....

I find it annoying when people kick the tyres, but some do?

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 09:32

Any - Time to sell privately - Andrew-T

It's a long time since I sold privately, but I guess what matters is how your price compares with other similar examples, where you are located and whether you are a long way from potential buyers. Selling price of some models can vary quite a bit with locality.

Plus the fact that you can't offer any warranty, just some goodwill if a sale goes wrong; and some people may always assume you are selling because the car has problems. Selling privately can be depressing.

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 09:39

Any - Time to sell privately - Rerepo

It may be that the market is cooling a bit. My friend who has a small used car sales pitch says the last two weeks have been quiet.

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 10:12

Any - Time to sell privately - focussed

We sold our UK 2007 Civic in 2015 here in France, advertising it to appeal to Brits as it was RHD.I prepared it in the usual way, a good body polish followed by a coat of Autoglym. I used my best camera, turned up the resolution to the max and took a series of images in bright sunlight with a tidy bit of the garden in the background (it's not all tidy!)

You've got to get the prospective customers around to view it before you can sell it, a well presented shiny car and decent photo's gets them to come to you, that's half the battle.

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 10:26

Any - Time to sell privately - SLO76

Had a wee look at your advert and really the only pointers I can give are, put a bit of tyre restorer on to lift the tyres a bit, it really lifts the whole car and it costs peanuts. I know you’ve mentioned the service history but people often scan read adverts looking for the letters FSH so add them to the description and price, it’s a wee bit up in the miles for your typical used Civic buyer so I’d put it on at £3995 Ono and I’d take anything over £3500 but with £3750 in mind.

Putting it under £4K means it’ll appear in searches that have a £4,000 limit and this is often an upper limit for people searching for private sale used cars and it also makes your car around £1,000 less than dealer money like for like which is where it needs to be.

Buying services like we buy any car won’t offer great money as it’s no longer strong retail stock at this mileage so I’d expect that £3000(ish) offer to drop on appraisal but it’s there as an easy way out if you get no joy. Good luck!

Edited by SLO76 on 13/06/2021 at 10:32

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 10:29

Any - Time to sell privately - SLO76

On a second note and since it’s recently been discussed here, have you noticed any oil usage with your Civic? Yours is a 2012 model which is often reported as being known for using a fair bit of oil.

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 10:40

Any - Time to sell privately - Modernmajorgeneral

Thank you SLO - I had rather hoped you would reply!

I thought FSH was in the tag line, but I will try and amend and I agree a price drop is in order before we bite the WBAC bullet.

Re: oil. It needs topped up a bit, but nothing excessive at all yet. At last service we asked the mechanic about this and he remarked it was doing well for its age and mileage. It has been carefully looked after though, so maybe this is why. Would the premium fuel help this?

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 11:12

Any - Time to sell privately - SLO76

“Modernmajorgeneral
Thank you SLO - I had rather hoped you would reply!

I thought FSH was in the tag line, but I will try and amend and I agree a price drop is in order before we bite the WBAC bullet.”

I looked again and so it is. I’d add it to the description as dozy folk like me might miss it.

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 10:33

Any - Time to sell privately - Modernmajorgeneral

Thank you all for your thoughts. I *think* the pictures are good and the car is shiny and tidy!

Depressing is exactly the word though. I think we may have just missed the peak, as you say. We are not very central, so perhaps location is the thing. Very competitively priced compared to other civics within 50 miles though.

Having seen some truly awful cars with dubious history at dealers, it is frustrating to think that we, as private sellers, are the untrustworthy ones…

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